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September 2013

09/30/2013

Congratulations to Diego Vasquez, age 9 of Napa, for being the Napa County, CA Firewise featured artist for October. Diego’s illustration of a firefighter challenging a wind-driven wildfire is a reminder of what can occur during Red Flag conditions.

The National Weather Service (NWS) issues Red Flag Warnings & Fire Weather Watches to alert land management agencies and fire departments about the onset, or possible onset, of critical weather and fuel moisture conditions that could lead to rapid or dramatic increases in wildfire activity due to low relative humidity, strong winds, dry fuels, or a combination of these conditions.

Remember, when a Red Flag warning is posted take it seriously - it’s a sign that the risk of a wildland fire is much higher than normal.

It’s important to keep in mind that in many parts of the U.S. wildfire season is truly never over. Wildfire preparedness and mitigation is a year-round effort. Pay attention the next time you hear there’s a Red Flag alert in your community and make it part of your workplace water cooler conversation or social media posts.

A KPHO-TV/CBS 5-AZ.COM image shows fires raging in the hills near Yarnell, Arizona on June 30, 2013 (KPHO-TV/CBS-5-AZ.COM/AFP)

Florida State Forester Jim Karels led the Serious Accident
Investigation Team, an interagency task force of experts, commissioned by the
Forestry Division that wrote the report. During the conference, the Team
provided information about the causes of the fire and the circumstances leading
to the entrapment and ultimate deaths of the Hotshot crew.

While the findings of the
investigation and the recommendations which surfaced from this report don’t
pertain directly to civilians (non-firefirefighter personnel), the message is
still clear: all residents have a role to
play in keeping our homes and communities safer from wildfire. Firefighters
alone cannot solve the wildfire problems we face. As residents living in the
WUI, we have the responsibility to help prepare for and protect our homes,
neighborhoods and communities against the threat of wildfire. By doing so, we can
help our firefighters do their jobs safely and with less incidents.

The WUI Conference, held March 17-19 in Reno, Nevada, offers hands-on training and
interactive sessions that will address the challenges of wildland fire and
provide the latest information about advancements in the field.

Sessions and
workshops are divided into three tracks:

Community Protection

Operations

Wildland
Fire Policy

The WUI Conference’s
comprehensive program also offers attendees the opportunity to earn NWCG and
NIMs certification, as well as professional Continuing Forestry Education
credits.

09/24/2013

A September 13 op-ed piece in the Washington Post points to our country's approach to wildfire and according to its author, Stephen Pyne, a life sciences professor at Arizona State University and the author of the forthcoming Between Two Fires: A Fire History of the U.S., 1960 to 2012, it is all wrong.

Using examples such as the Black Forest Fire in Colorado, which killed two people and destroyed 511 houses, Arizona’s Yarnell Hill Fire that killed 19 firefighters, and California’s Rim Fire in and around Yosemite National Park, Pyne says that these blazes are a good illustration of the major challenges that America's fire scene faces.

Just under half (44%) of U.S. voters say “uncontrollable wildfires that destroy property and forests "is a serious problem, facing the nation” – with one-in-four calling it an “extremely” or “very” serious problem, according to a recent poll comissioned by the National Forest Foundation. Concerns about this issue are drastically different by region, with 42% of voters in the West saying wildfires are an extremely or very serious problem and two-thirds deeming them to be at least somewhat serious.

The report also acknowledges that this is the highest proportion to register this view since 2007.

09/23/2013

Destructive wildfires are
affecting many areas across California, threatening communities, risking the
lives of firefighters, disrupting residents through evacuations and home
losses, and creating millions of dollars of damage to homes, businesses and
valuable natural resources. The good news is, there are simple and often
inexpensive ways to make homes safer from wildfire. With an understanding of
wildfire hazards and mitigation strategies, community residents can effectively
lower the wildfire risk and losses to their homes, neighborhoods and our
environment.

These national courses are taught by experienced wildland fire specialists and offer factual wildfire mitigation solutions and action strategies based on research and post fire investigations. Participants will learn the mitigation techniques that are most effective in reducing wildfire losses in the home ignition zone (HIZ) - the home and the surrounding 100 to 200 feet. The
courses will also focus on both the physical and behavioral sciences in
completing successful wildfire mitigation.

A recent feature article, Into the Wildfire, in the September 19 issue of New York Times Magazine highlights what science is learning about fire and how to live with it.

According to author Paul Tullis, wildfire is a game of politics, economics, law and ecology that involves firefighters, regulators, scientists, politicians, homeowners and others, from Washington, D.C., to state capitals throughout the West. The question Mr. Tullis asks - and as all these different constituencies are asking without arriving at the same answers - as more and more acres burn, what are we going to do about these fires?

The Rim Fire approaches the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, the source of water and power for San Francisco.

Made apparent by the recent Rim Fire in California, which threatened the water supply of 2.6 million people living 160 miles from the incident, wildfires have regional impacts.

A story in the latest edition of NFPA Journal provides some perspective on a concern extending beyond the designated wildland/urban interface (WUI). “The threats to water, power, and other infrastructure that could affect
a major urban center are perfect examples of why wildfire is everyone’s
concern,” says NFPA's Molly Mowery, program manager for Fire Adapted Communities and International Outreach. “It’s easy to think that only the people living in
the WUI are affected, but the reality is that the impact of these fires
is often regional. We need to take collective ownership of these kinds
of disasters, and that includes the work we do to prepare for them."

09/16/2013

A fire adapted community takes responsibility for its wildfire risk. Actions address resident safety, homes, neighborhoods, businesses, infrastructure, forests, parks, open spaces and other community assets. The more actions a community takes, the more fire adapted it becomes.

In Bend and other communities in Deschutes County, people are taking action to make their community and neighborhoods more wildfire resilient. To this end a shared vision between community members and professionals on how to to manage the lower elevation dry forests in the county is taking hold.

The Deschutes Collaborative Forest Project is working to create a fire and insect resilient forest. The primary goal is to 'set the clock back' to the pre-european settlement conditions when the forest naturally took care of itself. In this more natural state, the pines were large and had plenty of space to grow and thrive. In this natural state the forest floor had less tree litter and ladder fuels because of the more frequent, less intense fires. With the ecological function of fire restored, the hope is that the frequency of catastrophic forest stand replacement fires and the threat to the built environment will be significantly reduced.

Two historically adversarial groups - loggers and environmentalists are using science and technology to achieve common goals and solutions. Through partnership building and collaborative planning both groups are now beginning to work on common objectives like healthy forests and sustainable communities.

This recent city of Bend news story is symbolic in that it demonstrates how these central Oregon communities are working together to create a more fire adapted community through collaborative efforts in ecological restoration.

As one of my friends from the great state of Montana once said, “Loggers once took the best and left the rest, and now the industry will take the rest and leave the best”. The logging industry is an important part of the solution, they have the tools. With good stewardship, trust and collaboration, forests will become more fire resilient, communities will become more fire adapted, fire fighters will be safer and suppression costs will be lower.